Category: Family

Keith Here

Keith is here, letting me know about his recent comic acquisitions.  With the end of Strangers in Paradise, I’m casting about for a new jones, and I have decided to go for Fables, which he is currently telling me all about.  He’s a dear lad but he didn’t bring me the next Aubrey Maturin book so I growled at him.
I have to go in to New West to get my hairs cut and meet with the Number One Daughter for lunch.  Keith will join us after his workout.

I am going in to work tomorrow, but I realized I committed to going to church, too, so I’m double booking myself…. again.  I should go in around 2 pm.  I really do have to go, it’s the last time we’re in that building before we start up in the Gathering Place in the fall.

Great evening

went straight to Metrotown from work, riding down the hill with Patricia and Scary Clown, then a meal in the food court (U Grill) and then bought myself a summer jacket with all the latest hardware detailing, drooled all over some fet gear in that weird shop with the dragon out front at Silver City, then Pirates of the Caribbean, (LTGW said it was an art film and he was mostly right) & then a meal.  Keith cued it up so that Paul came to the movie as well and we had a very civilized and comradely evening, including a stopover at Chong Lum Hin (where else) where Sue gave us a rapturous welcome, and I got to read episode ninety – the last – the very last – of Strangers in Paradise.  It has a happy ending!!! Me so happy!!! they Both get pregnant and live happily ever after.  Okay, this will only mean something to maybe two people who read my blog, but I was terrified Terry Moore was going to kill off Tambi, and he didn’t.  And I gave Paul back the Powerpack and a piece of mail that somehow got included in my mail forwarding.  And somebody saw the house, but no offer.  Open house this weekend, wish us luck.

I’m glad my evening was so great, because work sucks a Greyhound Bus Station Men’s Restroom Mop right about now.  Not people, just work to the ceiling.

Feeling fine

Got up around 4, called my girlfriend Tammy, and then washed my dishes and my kitchen floor.  Had a cup of tea, nuked some home fries that I made yesterday, and then looked in my microwave and went FEH and hosed it down.  Serves me right for not covering up that Vindaloo when I nuked it.

Somebody is coming to look at the Augur Inn tonight, or so sez Paul.  I was going to do some more work, as per earlier blogs, but now that I’ve been released from durance vile I can wander over to the SFU library and get a library card.  I haven’t had a university library card in 30 years.  Maybe Katie will come over, she bailed on last night.
Spoke to my mum, Chipper and one of my oldest and dearest buds, Toronto Dave D last night – which Chipper will find amusing when she reads this as they too go back to the First Age of the World – he called out of the blue when I was already feeling extremely connected and contented with the unimyverse.

The sun’s come up all glorious.

It’s 2:51 in the morning

I went to bed super early – like when I got home last night – and of course now I’m hopelessly awake. I spent an hour with Patrick O’Brian and the Mauritius Command – how odd to be reading a book in part about Reunion, where cousin Lexi did part of her growing up – and I think the reason I had to crash so hard was because the chemicals from the oven cleaner really messed me up.

I know I said, one last widdy, but after I did the touch up paint and the oven I realized that there’s floors to wash downstairs – or I should say damp mop – and the whole place needs yet another vacuuming and when I inspected the fridges I realized that they should definitely get wiped up. It’s not like they are filthy, but they are just not quite clean enough. I will go Tuesday night, Katie’s supposed to be coming over for the last whack at her course completion before she grads. Oh blissful month of June, that has a graduation in it.

I will try to get off my duff and take and crop a picture of the quilt. I’m so used to doing everything in Paint in Microsoftland that I’m at a loss to even figure out which program I need to be in to crop a picture… although my wordpress toolbar works again thanks to RobofNine so I will have no difficulties posting it once I’ve quit putzing with it.

I light a candle for Riverbend, the ‘Iraqi girl blogger’. I light a candle for those who did experience flooding and a candle of thanksgiving that we managed to get through the worst of it thanks to the weather, so no BIG floods this year.  Although the Provincial emergency dude says usually you get through what you think is the worst of it and it comes back and kicks you again.  Sixty percent of the snowpack is there.  I light a candle for all the folks on boil water advisories.
I asked Paul what he’s doing for Father’s Day and he said he was going to Casey’s birthday party (and he is actually working that day too). I was trying to orchestrate getting both of the kids in one place for him but I should stop being a busybody and just let him do it.

I have one more week of hell and then I go on vacation (and the only reason I’m having Hell at Work is because I’m covering somebody’s planned medical leave). Vacation will include Making Sure the House is Just So and Getting my Apartment so it doesn’t Look Like a Bear Pit and applying for a passport and visiting my Mother and hopefully my bro, and applying to the Car Coop and hopefully having something resembling a relaxing time and maybe even playing around with Garage Band a bit more.

I think my back is getting better. I know it sounds weird, I should be able to tell, but it’s such an incremental thing. It definitely appreciates walking, and me sitting properly. Sleeping is fine (although I only have two useful positions for sleeping and in one of them I snore like (to use a massively indelicate phrase) a chainsaw in a bucket of snot.

I owe Chipper a phone call…. the TOURIST SEASON has begun in Madawaska. The most extraordinary thing happened this year though, according to her. A combination of heat and wet destroyed the blackfly crop. What a shame, hunh? I remember we went up there one time and the fly bites made me sick as hell. And poor Katie….. she gets bit by everything.

Speaking of getting bit, Katie’s bedbug situation, by dint of her heroic efforts, plus the exterminators, has been fixed.

sociable evening

RobofNine ran his hands over my new MacBook and got wordpress to behave by installing Firefox.  Alas, he did not put an icon on the desktop ere he left, which caused me an untold two minutes of anxiety, but now all is well.

Katie came for a visit (she is sleeping under the quilt five generations of her family worked on) and Mike & Heather came by as well and we went for a walk and drank beer and ate the apple pie they brought.

Spoke to Peggy about the arrangements for getting to Grace Hicks’ memorial service.

Spoke super briefly to Chipper.

And Katie spoke with her grandma, and all is right with the world.

extremely remiss….

Cousin Gerald reports that Brayden has taken his first step. I refer to this as the ‘life as we know it is now over phase’ – even more so than when the kid comes home, because at least at that point he stays where you put him….. So I learned of this milestone yestreen but forgot to post…

Also, CG sent pix of my dad’s mum when she was young and my gosh she was a pretty thing with a gorgeous smile. Another family photo shows CG as a young child with a passel of relatives. I have to say that my Dad’s side of the family definitely had more in the way of looks than my mum’s – no offense, Mumsie? – and what with Paul’s input the kids at least dodged ugliness.

sleep and chores

Much laundry happened last night. Ensuite laundry is one of the best things that ever happened to me, that and having a bathroom constructed in such a fashion that my dirty clothes can go there instead of in my bedroom

I inherited, upon the clean out of the garage, a stupendous number of Katie’s stuffed animals, including an enormous gorilla, and sacks of her clothing. A couple of the items are likely too small for her, but everything else is in good condition, so I have washed, dried and folded it and put it back in her old laundry hamper, with the summer clothes on top. Like a fool I tried to don one of the more frou frou garments, and five minutes later, after I nearly dislocated my left shoulder wriggling out of it, I realized that if overstuffed sausages decked in lime green lace ever come into fashion, I’d be quite the thing. As it is, you can all thank a special mercy of Providence that I didn’t post pics.

Had a nice long chat with Gail last night; she’s brother Jerome’s mum and has a grandbaby visit to look forward to. As is usual, our conversation ranged over such topics as how cool spiders are and kids say the darnedest things with a side of genealogy.

Back to the Augur Inn today, if I can stand it. I’m okay once I get there but the commute, with all its associations, is really starting to get to me; it was never a good commute to start with considering the horribility of the bus connections, but now it’s a lot warmer, and the Lougheed Town Centre bus loop gets to be like the front gate of hell on a sunny day; it’s so noisy and dirty and full of spitting raucous younguns. Don’t I just sound 90 years older than God, to quote Heinlein.

I was hoping that Paul would have sent back his revision to the separation agreement, seeing as how he has announced that the house wlll not be going on the market until it’s done. Perhaps it will be in today’s email packet. I deleted the next paragraph, and we can all be really happy about that, especially Paul.

Garage better

I removed the last of my junk from the garage, we killed about ninety billion spiders, and shoved all of Paul’s stuff to one side – Alex leading the charge. Alex did the sweeping. What a difference….. There’s still stuff to do like wipe down the cupboards but you can actually see the garage…
And then
And then
And then
PIE…. She made Lemon Meringue Pie FROM SCRATCH and fed it to me and Paul. Yummy. Then we got all the additional crap (like, I am now overgross weight for this apartment by about 100 pounds) into my apartment and I let Alex get back to her busy life. THEN a lovely phone call from brother Jerome asking me to a bar b que and then another lovely phone call from LE and Doug and we did a lot of catching up and she’s going to be in VICTORIA for a good part of July, so I am already plotting and planning in hopes she can be connected with various people in Victoria.

Life is awesome, the weather is stunning, and I’ve set up a table and chair so that when it’s not so blazing on the deck I can sit out with my little computer and tap away….

I know I should subtext the weather with – here’s hoping no floods. I have a good feeling about this year, I think we may dodge it this time…..

And Keith got accepted. Honestly, I could live on that for a week.

Oh, and I worked on the upstairs bathroom at the Augur Inn too while I was waiting for Paul and Alex.

Oh, and Keith accidentally left the Commodore (late in the series O’Brian) for me so … later!

More District 13

So…. MomCat, Kitty Kate excaped before I could make her call you, but she showed up crying and left cheerful (or cheerfullyer) after I poured 1 chocolate ice cream cone, one screwdriver and two European hot dogs into her, and she and Keith and I watched District 13 again, and she dropped off her birth registration so I can do some paperwork.

Today I go to Augur Inn (yerm) and Clean. And Vacuum. And sign the listing agreement and watch the sign go up on the front lawn. Around one Alex will show up and help us with the garage, which is the second or third to last horror show (the sheds will have to be rearranged and swept out. I am thinking we should leave the lawnmower, etc.

I went to sleep before 10 pm last night. Every time Keith comes over I go to bed early; it’s either that or stay up and listen to him kill zombies. Mind you, I was a very tired girl when I got home yesterday. Keith didn’t bring me any more O’Brian… I can’t really complain because I haven’t had an hour that didn’t involve work, transit, sleep or the Augur Inn since – okay, Friday night – but I’ve been working pretty steady. My vacation (June 20 to July 2 inclusive) canNOT come fast enough.

I am still glowing from Keith’s news; Katie was very happy to hear it too. Ah….

Augur Inn, small amount of dancing, glorious family news

Really, I should have eaten something last night; that would have fixed it so I wouldn’t have had to be bear led back to Patricia’s. Must remember to lay down the carbs before the alcohol. You would think at my advanced age…. didn’t stop me from having a good time though.

I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned at the Augur Inn today. Paul drove me and Keith back to my place and now we’re waiting for Katie….

The listing agreement will get signed tomorrow and the sign will go on the lawn then. We’re expecting it to take about 5 days to get on the MLS after the listing is signed and then the weekend after that we’ll have our first open house. We’re putting it on for… well, let’s see what it says when we’ve signed the agreement, don’t want to count my chickens.

Speaking of counting chickens, Keith no longer has to wonder about school. He has been accepted into the Dispensing Optician program of Douglas College and I am so proud I could burst. But I won’t, that would just be gross.

More painting w/ prayer

So….Now I have to go back and put second coats of paint on LOTS of cupboards.  My back really hurts, but we’re SO close to being done.

Had a very long and very pleasant (with tense interludes, due to content…) chat with Glenn last night.  I called him at 11:30 and then walked over to see him, and we sat and shot shit until about 1:30 this morning, and then he walked me home.  There are distinct advantages to living and working on campus.

Big hug to my mom who innocently asked on the phone yesterday, “Am I worrying enough?”; I controlled my immediate and unprintable response and said, “Yeah, ’bout enough.”  The unprintable response I will pass over, but, “Sheesh, mom, I’m 48” will cover for the meantime.  PS.  A DVD with the best of LaughIn is now available.

Katie is exhausted.  Shout out to Paul for standing the two of us to a meal yesterday – lunch at Chong Lum Hin.  I gave her 20 bucks for bug spray. 

I have new folks to light candles for.  I light a candle for a certain incarcerated man, and pray for his rehabilitation.  I light a candle for Beacon’s minister Katie Stein Sather, whose father is coming to the end of his long and productive life, and for him and his comfortable passing.  I light a candle for Maggie’s dad and his swift recovery from his surgery. 

And I light a candle for my apartment, which looks like a well behaved grenade went off in it.  Dang!

Snerk.  My clothes are fitting better….. Glenn laughed last night and said, “Isn’t the first thing a woman does when she leaves her husband is drop 20 pounds?”  I have dropped maybe two, but I can live in hope.

more paint at the Augur Inn

Robby the Bomb gave me a ride back to the Augur Inn last night and picked up the kindergarten table and chairs which my Granny gave to my parents back when I was a wee tad.  It was odd to be giving furniture that has been in my family for 45 years to somebody else, but Robby (and his amazing wife Char) have been most excellently good to me and my family for many years, and they have two soon to be school aged children – and he said they’d bring it back for my grandkids, ha ha, so I felt pretty happy about that.

I painted trim and doors and carried garbage downstairs and cleaned the upstairs bathroom until I ran out of tile cleaner. Keith said he was really upset about all the changes – he only just came to this realization and it’s making him feel very odd and displaced.

Tonight, Dinner at Tom and Peggy’s.  I may pick up a couple of the frozen salmon and bring them back here: Paul can have the rest as he still has the barbeque.

Paul moved into his apartment yesterday.